Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 June 1936 — Page 19
ERBERT GRAVELEY rented the brown cottage in order to be alone to finish his book. A week later, he was having tea with the Dearings, who lived in the white cottage next door, and by that time, the last thing in the world he wanted was to be alone—
if he could possibly get Marcia to|
marry him. “Yes, it's a good place to work,” he was saying. “Except for those pesky squirrels tap-dancing on the roof. 1 went out and threw stones at them this morning.” “You—threw—stones——" Marcia’s voice was queer, “© “Do have some tea, Mr. Graveley,” interrupted her mother hastily. Lady, Marcia’s white collie, came and stood at Herbert's knee. Besides Lady, and all the birds and squirrels in the neighbrhood who got free meals daily at the white cottage, Maria had two canaries, two aquariums of tropical fish, and an iguana—a weird-looking, brilliant green lizard that basked on a small log in a big glass cage on the sun porch, * Herbert had no acquaintance with birds and animals, tame or wild. He didn’t care, if she would only love him. It never occurred to him that love and sympathy for these lesser creatures could be so much a part of her nature as to stand between them. But he soon knew there was some barrier, and for the life of him, he couldn't make out what it was.
ARCIA had always believed there must be something wrong with anybody who didn’t love animals. Moreover, she couldn't give Herbert the least hint of what the trouble was, because the one thing ‘ that would be worse than his not liking animals would be his pretending to like them. “TI can’t understand it!” she said to her mother one day. “He seems
.. She was driving Mrs. Dearing to the city for a short visit. She herself expected to return to the cot‘tage after lunch. “You're making a mountain out of a mole-hill,” declared her mother. “What you need is to get away for ‘a while, till you can see things straight. Why don't you stay in the city with me? Phone Mrs. Jones and see if she can't look after the pets till we get back. She has a key to the cottage and knows what to do.” Marcia jumped at the idea. Mrs. Jones was a cleaning woman who ‘hired out by the hour. When Marcia phoned her, she readily agreed to take care of the animals.
ad ” ”
ERBERT began listening for H Marcia’s car an hour before he really expected her to return. The hour passed, then the afternoon and the evening. He would have assumed that she had merely changed her plans if he had not known that Lady was shut in the house and that Marcia would ‘have crawled home on hands and knees rather than leave: the dog a prisoner so long. He spent a sleep-. ‘Jess night. .. Next morning, he forced a window ‘of the white cottage. He fed Lady, ‘then threw out peanuts and grain “for Marcia’s outdoor pensioners, as he had seen her do. He filled the * canaries’ seed and water cups and fed the fish. The iguana still had a ‘piece of banana and there was ‘water in its dish. He let it alone, That was about the worst day Herbert had ever spent. He was sure, by this time, that Marcia had met with. some accident. When evening came again, with no word from her, he decided to call the gree:ry. That was the unofficial information bureau of the village. “Miss Dearing's in the city,” the
"DAILY SHORT STORY | Love Me, Love My Pets
By Mabel Abbott
grocer told him. ~ *T know, because she phoned yesterday not to send the berries she had she'd be gone several days.” was safe! But the more
shut his ‘eyes when he awakened by the window. Bewildered, he sat up and saw several squirrels scratching the pane, through which the morn-
pests—er—pets. He got up and put out peanuts for the squirrels. He breakfasted, then made the rounds of the canaries and fish. The
couldn't let it go any longer. He slid the cover of the Sage back a very little and dropped in a rt banana. : In the same second, a green streak shot past his hand with the swiftness of light, and was gone. Gone! Herbert searched the porch. Then he searched the living room. At last, he found the iguana an a windowsill behind some plants. With a large sofa pillow in his hand, he pounced. Three flower pots crashed, but the beast was pinned under the pillow, struggling fiercely. Herbert broke into a sweat, but managed to land it safely in the cage again.
» H ” E went to the kitchen to wash his breakfast plates, and had just made a fine lather in the dishpan when a noise brought him hurrying back to the living room just in time to see a gray brush whisk into the fireplace, Kneeling, he peered upward and saw a squirrel on a projection just above reach. Suddenly, it came out, dashed
across the hearth, and fled to the kitchen. Herbert followed. In a
window sill above the sink, missed, fell with a splash into the pan of soap-suds, scrambled out, and tore madly from sink to table to shelf, knocking pans right and left, with Herbert in hot pursuit. At the height of the mad chase, the back door suddenly bursé open —and there was Marcia, pale and breathless. As the squirrel darted out, Marcia looked at the havoc in the kitchen, looked at Herbert's dirt-streaked face, and sat down suddenly. “It’s all right,” he assured her anxiously. “I've fed ’em all.” The explanation was simple. Marcia had phoned Mrs. Jones’ home that morning to give her some instructions—and had learned, to her horror and dismay, that the unfortunate scrubwoman had been struck by an -automobile on the
first afternoon, had been taken to a hospital in an unconscious state, and had been in a serious condition ever since. Naturally, the Dearing animals had been forgotten. “Poor thing,” said Marcia. I thought of Lady shut up here for 48 hours—no - food—water gone— not to mention all the other little creatures dependent on me for their lives. 1 broke every traffic law getting here. And here you—you—"" she ‘choked. “Couldn’t let ‘em starve, could 1?” protested Herbert. She smiled. with quivering lips. “No. you: couldn’t.” The barrier was down. THE END
(Copyright, 1938. by United Peature
Syndicate. Inc.)
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